[From the Scene] Italian artisans design Samsung’s luxury fridge ‘New Chef Collection’

It’s not everyday that one feels attracted to a refrigerator, but Samsung’s new fridge is too beautiful to call it just a machine.

Samsung Electronics on Thursday invited reporters to a studio in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul, to showcase its premium “New Chef Collection” refrigerator amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Inside the dimly-lit studio stood the $10,000 refrigerator with a chic metallic design, which immediately defied the monotonous and boring look of a typical refrigerator.

“The four door panels are handcrafted by Italian artisans to express rays of sunlight fading away as they dive beneath the ocean,” said head of design team Harry Choi, as he explained the most expensive model Mare Blue. 

“As the panels are handmade, each refrigerator has a different design, which allows customers to enjoy a work of art in a product they use every day.”

The second-most-expensive model Cera Black’s panels are also handcrafted and made of 100 percent natural ceramics from Valencia, Spain, giving off a solid, earthy vibe.

For a lighter mood, customers can choose from the Honed Navy, Honed Beige and Honed Light Silver models.

To bring the refrigerator to the level of art, Samsung Electronics became the first home appliance company in the world to work with De Castelli, an Italian metal design firm famous for its collaborations with auto brand Maserati and kitchen brand Boffi.

“Launching the New Chef Collection refrigerator was no easy task, as artisans making door panels in Italy had been quarantined amid the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Lee Moo-hyung, head of kitchen platform lab.

As a premium model, the high-end refrigerator was equipped with functions to satisfy tastes of sophisticated customers. 

“The refrigerator is a Bespoke refrigerator, meaning that customers can customize inside compartments according to their preferences. For example, a Bespoke design optimized for wine and cheese can chill wine at 13 degrees Celsius in one compartment and keep meat at minus 1 degree Celsius in another,” Lee said.

The New Chef Collection refrigerator offers Bespoke designs for five different purposes: meat and fish, wine and cheese, vegetable and fruit, family and cook and health and well-being.

The Bespoke refrigerators were launched last year to accommodate different lifestyles, and the latest model can offer a total of 150 different types of designs to customers.

Bespoke design is supported by Samsung’s technology that can keep temperatures at users’ wishes, plus or minus 0.5 degrees Celsius.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)